Carolyn Shulman is a Denver-based folk singer-songwriter whose connection with music has been a lifelong affair. She came by her love of music and all things guitar-related naturally. Her father has played guitar as a hobby for most of his life, so when Carolyn expressed an interest in learning to play, he brought home a kid-sized acoustic guitar perfect for a nine year-old’s hands and set her up with lessons. By the time she was fourteen, she was writing songs and playing in coffee shops and restaurants in her hometown of Mobile, Alabama. Carolyn recently finished recording her debut album, Grenadine & Kerosene, at Cinder Sound Studio in Longmont, Colorado. She worked with veteran producer and award-winning singer-songwriter John McVey. Shulman and McVey brought in a band of seasoned musicians including Michael O’Connor, Eric Moon, Christian Teele, Chris Engleman and Kramer Kelling. Glenn Taylor of Bonnie & the Clydes plays pedal steel on two tracks, and fellow Colorado-based singer-songwriter friends Edie Carey, Megan Burtt, and Jen Hitt lent their support as background vocalists. We caught up Carolyn as we speak regarding her new video for “Matter of Time.”

Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically? 

This song is about trying to escape the daily grind or create a bit of spark in a relationship by seeking some adventure, “getting lost,” and not being worried about making mistakes. I thought the song would work well for a video because it is a fun, bouncy, folk-rock influenced song that lent itself to a narrative video. 

What was the inspiration behind this video(visuals, storyline, etc.)? 

Since the song is about breaking routines and seeking some fun and adventure, I wanted to incorporate a mix of scenes depicting routine, day to day lives as partners, spouses, or parents, contrasted with fun road trip imagery. I also specifically asked my video producer to include all kinds of couples and families in the video – I wanted to make sure that my LTGBQ and non-white listeners and friends saw their themselves represented, too. 

What was the process of making this video?

I worked with a fantastic, professional animator and video producer named Lars Skaland. Lars lives in Norway, and we connected through a platform called Fiverr, which is an online marketplace that helps people seeking creative work find digital creators to help them. Lars stood out on the platform because his lyric videos often incorporate the lyrics into the scenes of the video in super creative ways that I didn’t see in other lyric videos. I sent Lars the song, lyrics, some background on the song, and my ideas for a video concept. We had some back and forth to flesh out the details, and he NAILED it. I was so super pleased with his work, and he was very professional and an absolute pleasure to work with! I am thrilled with the results and love this video.